Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Cali made her first visit to a restaurant today. With permission of the
owners we attended the year end banquet for the local Mini Horse club.

Cali, rode in the SUV. We towed her bathroom. Which is her trailer at this
moment.She is comfortable "going" there. She goes right on cue every time I ask
her. She did need her ramp to get in to the SUV, but she jumped out. Good girl!

She found the door, stopped at the step, found the door handle (this one
still needs work) and found an empty chair. She stood by calmly while I ate brunch and answered questions.

As at waitress came over to pour some more coffee I asked her what her
impressions were of having a horse in the room. She answered in a way that was most
rewarding. She said at first she didn't even realize that it was a "real" horse. She thought "How cute, the club has brought a stuffed horse". This is a great testimonial on how good Cali was. She told us she felt no fear walking around her to serve and that she was not a disturbance in any way. She didn't think she took up too much room at all.

I sat on the left end of a table. Cali stood by my left knee sometimes with
her little nose resting on my knee. She never intruded on the table goodies. What a little star.

As I've said before this being "still" is the hardest thing to train. Just
being still while she is alone is one thing. But, being still while her person is there is quite another.

After about 1/2 hour, I took her out to her bathroom and she went easily and
quickly.

She stayed in another 1/2 hour before I took her out again. She went again
and that told me she was a little stressed by the experience. When not stressed, she
goes for about 2 hours when doing nothing.

She can work a lot longer but the doing nothing is still confusing.

Then, she led me back in. She knew right away where we were going to get
back and pointed out all the terrain changes along the way. She found the door, the
mat at the doorstep (wouldn't want any tripping) and she found our chair.

This is the conclusion of a week that had her inside quite frequently. She
stands on her rug, or stands quietly with her nose on my knee. She has a toy or two in the house but doesn't play much yet.